«I see no reason to break Social Security from the Ministry»
Berlin
Updated:
save
"I do not see what reason there could be to break the Social Security of the Ministry of Labor," said Economy Minister Nadia Calviño during her stay in Berlin, where she was attending the Digital Governance Forum today, "but the important thing is that they are managed well the portfolios, not the specific architecture of the different Ministries, could be managed well with any of the structures ». Before a hypothetical requirement of Podemos during negotiations to form Government, Calviño has been cautious, but has defended his powers. “During these 17 months, the coordination of the government's economic policy has clearly been within the scope of the Government Delegate Commission for Economic Affairs, chaired by the Ministry of Economy. The president of the Government, in his announcement to raise the rank of the Ministry of Economy to a vice-presidency, which conveys is a very clear message of strengthening the central position and coordination, therefore I can not think of any basis to think about that speculation, ”he said.
In the meeting with his German counterpart, the conservative Peter Altemeier, Calviño has not had the opportunity in Berlin to comment on the state of the negotiation on the Banking Union, but has insisted that he considers "very positive that Germany stepped forward or show a commitment to try to move forward in the coming months in the deepening of the Economic and Monetary Union». He specifically referred to the unconditional and openly formulated support by the German Finance Minister, the social democrat Olaf Scholz, to a pan-European deposit protection system. After formulating that concession in an article signed in the Financial Times, the Berlin government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, corrected that it was a personal proposal from Scholz, but that this is not the policy of the German government. "I trust Germany's leadership to try to reach an agreement in the near future," Calviño said.
The main lines of economic policy in the next legislature, he has advanced, “will continue to be fiscal responsibility, the fastest possible reduction of deficit and debt and social responsibility, to try to reinforce those regulatory aspects of the budget area that support the social cohesion and fiscal justice, in addition to structural reforms ». On that impossible square of the circle that involves the reduction of the debt and the extension of social guarantees, unless it is resolved with a large tax increase, the minister advises «to look at the facts, in our proposal of budgets for 2019 we already fixed an objective of fiscal responsibility and reduction of deficit superior to the one that will finally be possible due to the necessary extension of the previous budgets ». «Even so, the finance minister is doing a tremendously tight management and our goal is to reduce the public deficit from 2.5% of GDP which was achieved last year around 2% in the year of 2019 », he said.
Regarding the public debt, the minister has stressed that thanks to the low rates Spain has saved considerably in terms of interest payments, although without clarifying whether the next government of Madrid will respond to the request of the European Commission to use this situation to reduce the debt. “All the margin that we can get should be allocated to the reduction of the ratio of public debt to GDP, since it is one of the most important imbalances since the beginning of the crisis, but it is important to make it compatible with the strengthening of the mechanisms of solidarity ”have been his words.
Among the priorities of the next government will also be the repeal “of those most harmful aspects of the last labor reform and the drafting of a new Workers Statute that looks to the future and responds to the new needs of the labor market, including the robotization and operation of digital platforms, the balance between personal and work life, a set of future challenges, almost present to those who have to Give answer".
